The practice nets pictured above are a surprisingly good practice aid. Here is why.
I was giving a client a lesson recently and the changes we were trying to make were not happening. He was hitting erratic shots and I was starting to feel his pain because I could see how hard he was trying.
I then had a light bulb moment!
The lesson was in my swing studio and I turned the screen off! All the golfer could see was a blank screen. I asked him to really exaggerate the move we were working on and bingo he started to make the changes and his strike improved beyond recognition.
After turning the screen back on he could see the improved distance and shot shape.
Why did this work?
Many golfers come for a lesson to improve their ball flight or strike. But inevitably when making a swing change there will be some initial shots that don't go as well as expected. This series of poor shots then make the golfer react by trying to change their swing again.
When making a change we need to commit 100% to changing the swing position despite some initial poor results
My client was struggling with his strike, he was hitting the ball fat. We worked on on a better weight transfer but he then started to push the ball to the right and he reacted by trying to swing more left but this then put him back on the back foot and his fat shot returned!
As soon as the screen was turned off he committed to the feeling of transferring his weight for 5 or 6 shots in a row because he didn't have a ball flight to react to. We then turned the screen back on and his strike was pure with a little draw!
What can we learn from this?
The warm-up nets at your golf club can be a great place to work on your swing changes because you won't see a ball flight and be tempted to react to it.
So if you are working on a swing change my advice would be to practice in a net or to commit to your new swing position despite the varied ball flights you will inevitably see when initially making the change.
I hope this will help you improve your swing quicker. If you need any more help please contact me here.